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Projects planned, or already under development, in the Gulf have crossed the $1 trillion mark, according to new market figures from MEED projects.

Research from the Middle East's leading business opportunity tracker shows that the total value of projects has risen by more than $250 billion in the first three months of 2006 alone, and exceeded $1 trillion in the first week of April.

The projects market in the region is now the biggest globally on a per capita basis, while the Middle East has the second largest share of project finance in the world.

Ayman Razek, general manager of MEED projects, said: "From the statistics we have at our fingertips, the Gulf economic boom will last for at least five more years. The growth seen in Dubai in the last five years is now happening in Abu Dhabi, and across the GCC.

"Project values are at an all-time high through a combination of a GCC-wide construction boom, through infrastructure development, energy initiatives and public / private sector initiatives, as well as associated rises in building material costs."

The UAE remains the Gulf’s largest construction market. At the start of April, there were almost $300 billion worth of active projects in the federation, most in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, though major schemes are being unveiled in the other five emirates.

The value of projects in Saudi Arabia has doubled to more than $200 billion in the last 12 months, with the Kingdom likely to close on the UAE in the next five years. Kuwait’s project market, the second largest in the GCC, has grown to $211 billion.

The total value of projects in the GCC is now $881 billion; the balance is in Iran, where there are active projects of $97 billion, and Iraq, with $27 billion worth of projects under way.

More than half of the projects in the Gulf are in general construction sectors. There are $228 billion worth of oil and gas projects, $106 billion of petrochemical projects, $70 billion of power and water projects, $44 billion of industrial projects and $15 billion of wastewater and sewerage schemes.

MEED projects tracks all projects worth more than $50 million in the GCC, Iran and Iraq.